Gastroenterology
-
Practice Guideline Guideline
American Gastroenterological Association medical position statement: evaluation and management of occult and obscure gastrointestinal bleeding.
This document presents the official recommendations of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) on the evaluation and management of occult and obscure gastrointestinal bleeding. It was approved by the Clinical Practice and Practice Economics Committee on May 16, 1999, and by the AGA governing board on July 18, 1999.
-
Progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC), an inherited liver disease of childhood, is characterized by cholestasis and either normal or increased serum gamma-glutamyltransferase activity. Patients with normal gamma-glutamyltransferase activity have mutations of the FIC1 locus on chromosome 18q21 or mutations of the BSEP gene on chromosome 2q24. Also, patients with bile acid synthesis defects have low gamma-glutamyltransferase activity. We investigated expression of the bile salt export pump (BSEP) in liver samples from patients with a PFIC phenotype and correlated this with BSEP gene mutations. ⋯ The findings show a close correlation between BSEP gene mutations and canalicular BSEP expression. Biliary secretion of bile salts is greatly reduced in BSEP-negative patients.
-
This study identified and characterized the hepatic expression of secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI) during hepatic ischemia and reperfusion in mice. In addition, the effects of exogenously administered and endogenous SLPI on liver and lung injury induced by hepatic ischemia and reperfusion were evaluated. ⋯ These data indicate that SLPI has protective effects against hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury and suggest that endogenous SLPI functions to regulate the hepatic inflammatory response.